How to Create a Workplace Culture That Encourages Support and Knowledge Sharing

For a workplace to succeed in everything that they do, the culture needs to prioritise a few core values.

Support and knowledge sharing are crucial for everyone to be able to work to their best of their abilities, and cultures that lack in these values are often more disjointed and less productive.
If you’re looking to bring unity into the workplace, start by examining the way your culture handles the distribution of information and the way it’s delivered. Make sure everyone is equal.

Value the Importance of Communication

Neither knowledge sharing nor support can occur without proper communication. Make sure everyone can easily communicate with each other, both in person and digitally. Hold enough meetings for everyone to express their concerns and ideas. Make it simple for people to ask questions and receive answers. Condense all your communications down to a few avenues so that nothing important slips through the cracks. When information is kept together, everyone is made aware of the same facts with less room for error.

Compose Teams Based on Strengths

Grouping the right people together will naturally lead to better knowledge sharing and support. You want the project leader to know every small detail in order to properly convey those details to other team members. You want people who each possess a special skillset to be able to approach problem solving from their own unique angles. By placing together people who are different, you’re encouraging them to learn from each other and become well rounded as a result of that experience.

Remember Everyone Benefits from Empowerment

By empowering your strongest employees to mentor and support those who need a little extra help from time to time, everyone benefits. Empowered employees understand how much you value them for what they bring to the table. They’ll feel more integrated into the success of your company and secure within their professional potential. The people who need extra help won’t have to wait for a higher-up to be available – they’ll have immediate access to someone with the tools to talk them through a complicated aspect of a project. They’ll feel more useful and productive if they can act immediately, rather than waiting around. It’s a mutually beneficial situation that will make the workplace better.

Recognise and Reward Those Who Go Above and Beyond

Rewarding people for providing exceptional knowledge, value and support to their coworkers is the perfect way to incentivise the sharing of knowledge and strength of workplace support. Recognise people for their independent efforts to help their fellow team members. Celebrate their contributions, thank them for all they do to help everyone achieve success and finally provide them with some small perks as a token of your gratitude. Even something as inexpensive as an occasional happy hour or a package of healthy snacks can boost your culture and inspire people to give their all on every project and motivate the people around them to strive for professional growth. Your workplace will become an uplifting place, and that’s exactly what people need when they want to develop a mastery of their skills.

Through Compassionate Leadership

Bosses don’t encourage much of anything – encouragement comes from strong leaders who understand the needs and potential of their team. Compassionate leaders will sit at the table with the people they’re leading. They’ll contribute to projects and provide the same amount of value as everyone else and help their staff to be successful. A leader who is present and informative can help a team learn and understand concepts far better than they may have if they were left in the woods to fend for themselves. Leadership that sets a strong example gives everyone a productive path to follow.
Maintain a constantly flowing dialogue with your employees. You want them to feel comfortable asking for help and admitting when they don’t quite understand something. Without that honesty and transparency, no one can grow to reach their full potential. Always keep the door open.